Chimamanda wrote fiction, inspired by her Igbo tribesman Obi’s loss; Biden should trash letter: Bayo Onanuga

Bayo Onanuga, the spokesman for President-elect Bola Tinubu, has urged U.S. President Joe Biden to trash Chimamanda Adichie’s open letter requesting the American leader to hold off on congratulating Mr Tinubu as Nigeria’s next president, as doing so could legitimise what she described as an “illegitimate process” that led to his victory.
According to Mr Onanuga, Ms Adichie’s open letter to the U.S. president is based on ethnic sympathy and fiction.
“Congratulating its (election) outcome, President Biden tarnishes America’s self-proclaimed commitment to democracy,” Ms Adichie, a celebrated Nigerian author, said in a letter titled ‘Nigeria’s Hollow Democracy’ published in The Atlantic on Thursday.
Reacting to Ms Adichie’s letter on Thursday in a tweet, Mr Onanuga urged the U.S. president to “trash” the letter, which he described as “fiction.”
“Dear President Joe Biden, please just trash the open letter by Chimamanda on Nigeria’s election once it gets to your desk,” Mr Onanuga stated.
The APC propagandist added, “She wrote fiction, inspired by the monumental loss of her tribesman Peter Obi.”
Ms Adichie cautioned the U.S. leader against toeing the path of his UK counterpart, Rishi Sunak, who had rushed to congratulate Mr Tinubu, stressing that “the battle for influence in Africa will not be won by supporting the same undemocratic processes for which China is criticised.”
Foreign experts, including retired American diplomat Johnnie Carson, also welcomed Mr Tinubu’s victory, saying he put in the resources and groundwork to attain history.
Still, Mr Carson said the election that produced Mr Tinubu could have been better conducted.
“To me, the problem is not with Tinubu and the other candidates,” he said. “Nigeria deserves the very best electoral process.”
Leading opposition parties, Labour and PDP, have filed petitions against Mr Tinubu’s election in court in a tedious proceeding that should get to the Supreme Court in eight months.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Enugu
Easter: Civil Defence puts up strategy to secure Enugu
Mr Dada noted that Enugu State has remained peaceful with little or no report of security breach after the elections.

Politics
INEC should conduct credible Adamawa guber election rerun: IPAC
“The 2023 election has come and gone in some places, while in Adamawa, ours is inconclusive as declared by INEC.”

Africa
Buhari giving Nigeria ‘wise leadership’, says Angolan ambassador
The Angolan diplomat thanked Mr Buhari for giving Nigeria “wise leadership.”

Faith
Good Friday: Forgiveness, peace solution to Nigeria’s problems, Catholic Bishop says
The bishop called on the people in leadership positions, especially Christians, to emulate Jesus in his love, humility, service and generosity.

Faith
Incest increasing among Nigerians: Clerics
Two Lagos-based clerics have expressed concern over the rising cases of incest, particularly fathers having sexual intercourse with their underage daughters.

Abuja
Final-year students to take ‘intelligence assessment exams’ in university
“All final-year projects of the students, including postgraduate students, would be subjected to plagiarism tests.”